【World Billiards Masters】The dark horse of Hong Kong, China reached the final, and Germany won the championship at the age of 24!

On 8 May 2022, the World Pool Masters ended in Gibraltar. Joshua Feller, a 24-year-old talent from Germany, won her fifth title in the Matchroom pool tournament system by beating Hong Kong's Lu Haochen 9-6 in the final.

The World Pool Masters is a classic pool tournament owned by Matchroom, founded in the 1990s, and each tournament invites only the most popular pool stars of the time. Legends such as Ravel Suquet, Daron Abelton, Earl Streenand, Shane Van Berning, Francisco Bastamandi and others have won the championship. The tournament followed a 24-player lineup, with eight seeded players advancing directly to the round of 16, while the remaining 16 players played a preliminary round first, with the winner challenging the seeded players in the quarterfinals.

Ke Bingyi and Ke Bingzhong's "brother showdown" was the highlight of the preliminary round, but unfortunately, the two players did not start well, and Ke Bingyi made a lot of efforts in the later stages to win 7-4. Hong Kong,China's Hong Kong youngster Lo Haochen, who was invited to participate for the first time, played amazingly, beating Estonian powerhouse Dennis Belag 7-4. Philippine star Dennis O'Kelo defeated Ekent Khaki 7-4 and Dutch "Terminator" Nils Finn lost 2-7 to Kuwait's Aryusef.

Defending champion Alexander Kazakis was swept 0-7 by O'Kelo in the quarter-finals, who also lost 0-7 to Germany's talented teenager Joshua Feller in the quarter-finals that followed. During the game, Feller maintained a 100% goal success rate and a defensive success rate, and O'Chloe did not even get a chance to score a goal.

Ke Bingyi's form rebounded significantly, and he played a perfect start to four in a row and three in a row against Alcaide and Lechner respectively, and finally won 7-3, 7-2 to advance to the semi-finals. After losing 3 match points, Lu Haochen made a thrilling 7-6 thrilling defeat to Theon Konko World Championship champion Van Bonin, and then beat Aryusef by the same score to advance to the final four. Poland's Mijeszko Futunski defeated Ye Junwei and Ruiz 7-4.

In the semi-finals, Feller won 7 consecutive sets in a 0-3 situation and defeated Ke Bingyi 7-3; Lu Haochen continued to award the dark horse role, defeating Futunsky 7-5, creating a good record of reaching the final for the first time.

The final process was very sticky, Lu Haochen made a 2-0 start; Feller won four consecutive sets to win 4-2 to win the score; Lu Haochen also won four consecutive sets and won 6-4 again. At the critical moment, Feller showed his killer nature, winning 5 consecutive sets against the unfavorable situation of rushing the ball, defeating Lu Haochen 9-6 and winning the championship.

So far, the 24-year-old Feller has won five titles in Matchroom's tournaments — The Moscony Cup + Mvp, the US Open Pool Championship, the World Pool Championship, the World Cup of Pool, and the World Pool Masters) champion.

Past champions of the World Billiards Masters

In 2022, J. Feller 9-6 Lu Haochen

In 2021, A. Kazakis 9-0 S. Van Bournin

In 2019, D. Arcade 9-8 A. Zakakis

In 2018, N. Finn 8-4 S. Van Bournin

In 2017, D. Arcade 8-7 J. Shaw

In 2015, S. Van Bournin 8-2 D. Abbotton

In 2014, S. Van Bonin 8-2 N. Economopoulos

In 2013, N. Finn 8-6 D. Abbotton

In 2012, K. Skovorski 8-6 M. Snigoki

In 2011, R. Suqui 8-5 D. O'Kero

In 2010, D. Appleton 8-3 LiLinda

In 2009, D. Abelton 8-4 N. Van Den Berg

In 2008, A. Pagulayan 8-6 M. Imonen

In 2007, T. Enget 8-5 D. Arcade

In 2006, R. Suqui 8-4 A. Pagulayan

In 2005, R. Hendal 8-7 R. Morris

In 2004, T. Engelt 8-6 O. Ultraman

In 2003, T. Drago 8-6 Xia Huikai

In 2002, R. Suqui 9-4 E. Reyes

In 2001, F. Bastamandi 7-6 E. Streenand

In 2000, R. Suqui 7-3 A. Reilly

In 1999, A. Reilly 7-5 E. Reyes

In 1998, F. Bastamandi 11-9 R. Suqui

1997, E. Streenand 2-1 (Sets) T. Tanglun

In 1996, R. Suqui 2-1 (Sets) V. Fakay

1995, D. Pedge 2-0 (Sets) L. Kendall

In 1994, R. Suqui 2-1 (Sest) J. White

In 1993, W. Durreg 2-1 (Sets) R. Suquet